


Fortune Favors

by themayqueen



Category: Hanson (Band)
Genre: Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Love, Brothers, Fortune Telling, House Party, Implied/Referenced Incest, M/M, Magic, Secrets, Sibling Incest, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-31
Updated: 2012-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-09 14:01:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12278016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themayqueen/pseuds/themayqueen
Summary: Her face grew darker, the grin falling away. “Don’t tell him.”





	Fortune Favors

**Author's Note:**

> This oneshot was written for the "Trick or Treat" challenge in 2012.

Zac didn’t know why he kept letting Taylor talk him into coming along for these stupid parties. Isaac claimed he was getting too old to be out partying all night, but it was a well known fact that Zac had never been the party animal that his two older brothers were. He was perfectly happy being the lame one, the stick in the mud who sat in the hotel room playing video games all night while his brothers tried to replace all their blood with alcohol.

It had only taken one pout for Taylor to get his way this time. Zac hated him a little for it, because he was certain that, even if he didn’t totally understand _why_ , Taylor knew the effect his pout had.

The parties usually had ridiculous themes. This one, as far as Zac could tell, was supposed to be some sort of gypsy… thing. Every room of the mansion-–Zac couldn’t even remember who it belonged to-–was covered in flowing scarves and low light that created an eerie effect. He soon lost Taylor to a group of belly dancers and busied himself with nursing a beer, the one and only drink he had conceded to allow himself.

He wandered around for what felt like hours, nursing the same beer. All the faces around him seemed to blur together so that he honestly couldn’t tell if he was seeing the same people over and over or if he hadn’t seen the same person twice the entire night. One face he was certain he hadn’t seen was Taylor’s, and Zac felt his absence acutely.

A hand grasped his arm suddenly and he knew in seconds that it was not Taylor. Spinning around to face the person, Zac found himself looking at a woman-–he couldn’t even tell how old she was-–dressed in a gypsy costume with a scarf covering her hair and casting shadows on her face so that he could barely tell that she was grinning at him. Something about her grin shook him to the core.

“You have a secret,” she said, still grinning that creepy grin.

Zac jerked his arm back from her at the same time that he rolled his eyes at her statement. She was creepy, that was certain, but she was just some hired party entertainment, wasn’t she? She wasn’t a real gypsy fortune teller. There _were_ no such things as fortune tellers, Zac reminded himself. At least, none who could really tell him anything about his secrets.

Her face grew darker, the grin falling away. “Don’t tell him.”

“What?” Zac asked, certain he had heard her wrong.

“Don’t tell him,” she repeated. “They say fortune favors the bold, but… you and I both know it would ruin everything if you told him your secret. Keep those feelings hidden.”

The next Zac knew were the angry stares of other party goers as he elbowed and shouldered them on his quest to put as much distance between himself and the fortune teller as possible. It seemed the mansion had transformed itself into an endless maze, but finally he found a set of French doors and practically launched himself full speed through them, not even caring where they led.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, hoping to clear his mind, and instead finding his nostrils full of the scent of chlorine. Opening his eyes, he realized he had walked out onto a patio that led to the mansion’s pool. There was just enough of a chill in the air to keep all the Southern Californians at the party inside, and the rest of the neighborhood seemed to be sleeping. Even though he was only feet from the party, Zac was finally alone.

Not even caring if he looked ridiculous-–he couldn’t outdo some of those party guests if he tried-–he kicked his shoes off, rolled up his pants and dipped his feet into the pool. The water was cold, but Zac didn’t mind. He sat on the edge of the pool, wanting desperately to dive right in, but he feared that if he did, he wouldn’t have it in himself to actually resurface. He would just let the water swallow him up so that his secret could die with him.

He stared into the water forever, hating that all he could see in it was either inky nothingness or his own reflection. He nearly fell into the pool headfirst when a tall figure appeared beside him, reflected in the water.

It was Taylor.

Wordlessly, he removed his own shoes and sat down beside Zac. He swirled his feet around in the water, creating little ripples and waves that made Zac shiver. Zac was pretty sure that was more from the proximity to Taylor than the water; he had long since adjusted to its temperature. Taylor leaned his head against Zac’s shoulder, and even though Zac could smell liquor on his breath, he didn’t push him away.

“Sorry about the party,” Taylor mumbled. “I know you’re not having fun…”

Zac only shrugged. He didn’t trust himself to say any words at all to Taylor for fear that the wrong ones would fall out of his mouth and give him away.

“We can leave. I’ll buy you room service when we get back to the hotel.”

“Yeah, okay,” Zac managed to choke out, the words still sounding like I love you to his ears.

Taylor gave him a smile and stood up, then held his hand out to Zac. Zac stared at it dumbly for a moment, then up at Taylor, looking for some sort of explanation. Taylor just laughed and leaned down, plucking Zac’s hand off the tile and twining their fingers together.

Zac allowed Taylor to pull him up, not even caring that his feet were still wet and his shoes hanging stupidly from his other hand. All he could think about in that moment was the way their hands fit together, fingers entwined like lovers instead of brothers. He glanced down at their hands, then back up to Taylor’s face, and was surprised to see Taylor staring back at him.

As he stared into Taylor’s surprisingly clear eyes, he thought back to the gypsy fortune teller’s words. Zac realized he didn’t need to worry about telling his secret. Taylor already knew.


End file.
